14-member Balochistan cabinet takes oath

QUETTA: The 14-member provincial cabinet of Balochistan took oath at a ceremony held in the Governor House in Queta on Friday.

Governor Balochistan Abdul Wali Kakar administered the oath to the 14-member provincial cabinet ater more than a month the chief minister took oath.

The 14-member cabinet sworn in on Friday includes Zia Langau, Tariq Magsi, Shoaib Nosherwani, Raheel Durrani, Sadiq Umrani, Ali Madad Jatak, Zahoor Buledi, Noor Muhammad Dumar, Sardar Faisal Jamali, Sarfraz Domki, Abdul Rehman Khetran, Saleem Khosa, Asim Kurd Gello and Bakht Kakar.

Earlier on March 2, Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Mir Sarfraz Bugti was sworn in as Chief Minister of Balochistan.

Ater taking office on March 2 as chief minister, the Bugti hinted that the cabinet will be formed following the Senate elections.

All eleven of Balochistan’s senators were elected unopposed in the Senate election on April 2.

It is pertinent to mention here that the newly elected MPAS of the Balochistan Assembly took their oaths of membership in session chaired by the presiding officer Engineer Zamrud Khan on Feb.28.

The 51 members, elected on general seats, who took oath include members of the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Pakistan Muslim Leaguenawaz (PML-N) lawmakers which have emerged as the largest parties in the 65-member House.

The assembly includes 11 reserved seats for women and three for minorities while the PPP has 11 seats and PML-N has 10 seats.

Meanwhile, the Jamiat Ulema-e-islam-fazl (JUI-F) and Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) have 10 and five seats, respectively.

Separately, parliamentarians of the PPP led by Chairman Bilawal Bhuto staged a walkout from the National Assembly session against the harsh remarks of the PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan about President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday.

Gohar criticised Zardari in Thursday’s joint session of the parliament and labeling him as an illegal and unconstitutional president.